


Don't Quit Until You're Ahead

by bluegeekEM



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Bounty Hunters, Episode Tag, Gen, Mando has a mission to fulfill, Podfic Welcome, Responsibility, and he takes a lot of risks to do it, references to gambling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27296923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluegeekEM/pseuds/bluegeekEM
Summary: “Do you gamble, Mando?” Koresh asked, his eye turning briefly in Mando’s direction from the ring in front of them.“Not when it can be avoided.”*It was not a strictly accurate answer.  Mando doesn't gamble with credits or on games of chance.  When it comes to people, however?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Don't Quit Until You're Ahead

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoyed the first episode of season two and couldn't resist a a few thoughts about Mando's particular "gambling" habits.

_“A gambler plays even when the odds are immutable and against him.”_ – Roger “Lou Krieger” Lubin

* * *

A Less Traditional Agreement

Staring at the client across the table and seeing the nervous scientist’s restless bobbing in his peripheral vision, Mando considered the offer before him. With Karga’s failure to offer any other valuable assignments, this was the only viable option for a worthy return on his efforts. An unambiguously shady assignment offered by a mysterious client who uses Imperial stormtroopers as muscle and is only willing to offer him an age and a fob to track the target.

Great. Just great.

But to pay in Beskar…

Mando stood, resigned, and wondered if the client adjusted the reward according to the bounty hunter who came calling or if he’d have potentially handed over a prize of such value to anyone willing to take on this foolish venture.

Not that it mattered in the end, he supposed. No one would be claiming the bounty other than himself.

* * *

An Unusual Request

Although Mando understood the Jawa’s language enough to recognize the word egg during Kuiil’s negotiations, surely he’d misunderstood. They wouldn’t propose he go on a search for one in trade for the return of the _Razor Crests_ parts. Surely.

Kuiil confirmed Mando’s translation.

Mando evaluated Kuiil’s weathered face, considering. Could he be playing a trick of some sort? To what end? How would it benefit him to do so now?

Mando sighed. Kuiil had been helpful and honest thus far, both in directing Mando to the asset in the first place and in helping him get this far with the Jawas. He supposed that a idiotic quest to find a damned egg wasn’t the worst thing he could do if there was a chance it might get him back in the sky without further headache.

* * *

Secrecy is Survival is Strength

Mando froze when he realized the lever he reached for was still missing its knob, a reminder of the kid’s existence forced to the forefront of his mind once again. The shiny round ball that the kid found so irresistible lay discarded on the console to his right, in front of the space where the kid’s pod had hovered during their journey.

Right up until Mando had delivered him into the hands of Imperial remnants and scientists.

Damn it.

Mandalorians treasured their young, far more than many of the galaxies people, or so it seemed. The kid wasn’t Mandalorian, he wasn’t a _foundling,_ so he shouldn’t feel as though he’d betrayed everything he stood for, should he? Even Vizla’s objection had been to Mando accepting a job from a representative of the old Empire, not anything to do with the fate of the kid. And the Guild’s code had very clear guidelines on not breaking faith with their clients. If you take on a job, you finish it. To return to a client and take the asset back? That would blow a giant hole in that code and make himself a target.

And yet.

The kid was helpless, or nearly so, and came from a people that Mando couldn’t even recognize enough to give them a name, so it was unlikely he had anyone else to look for him. That made him as good as a foundling and with just as much potential as any youngling.

And the Mandalorian Creed was worth far more than any bounty hunter code.

If he did this, Mando knew, he would be turning his back on everything and every one. By following the creed, he’d become an enemy of the guild and a danger to his Covert. His own fellows might be tasked with tracking him down.

Mando wondered if they would do it. Would his actions be seen as too reckless to allow? Would Vizla be eager to take on his bounty, if the wellbeing of the Covert was at stake?

Or would they somehow recognize his actions as following the correct path, as part of the way? Did he have time to even seek their counsel?

Mando took a deep breath. No. He’d made his decision, and he would stand by it, regardless of what any others would demand. So he would have to act now and hope that it wouldn’t lead to more of a disaster than he could handle.

* * *

Raise Some Hell

The emotion in Cara’s voice took Mando by surprise. “I’ve seen that thing take out entire companies of _soldiers_ in a matter of _minutes!_ ”

The grumbling of the villagers continued, though Omera’s determined voice cut through the noise clearly. “We’re not leaving.”

“You cannot fight that thing,” Cara replied.

Mando looked from Omera to Cara, each equally resolute.

This was foolish, and probably heading straight for disaster. But he’d done far more foolish things, many of them in just the last few weeks.

“Unless we show them how.”

* * *

An Awful Lot to Learn

“This is my first job,” Calican said, desperation threading his voice. “You can keep the money, all of it!”

Mando turned, surveying him.

Fennec Shand’s capture would net a large bounty, suited to the trouble and risk of attempting to capture her. The kid’s offer was a good one, as deals went, if he could carry even some of the weight.

And everyone had to start somewhere, right?

* * *

The Policy is No Questions

The need for secrecy and discretion meant that Mando was running out of options and had fewer and fewer strings to pull each day.

Turning to Ranzar Malk to earn some credits meant he was scraping the barrel. Only time would tell how far down into it he was.

As each additional member of the crew was introduced, however, Mando’s hopes that he’d be somewhere near the top faded.

* * *

With Optimism

Watching Karga’s message, Mando knew he couldn’t trust the man any further than he could throw him.

That said, Mando had sent him sailing a fair distance after he’d shot him when escaping with the kid. He doubted that added to the likelihood that Karga’s offer was genuine, though.

That this was a trap wasn’t really in question.

Oh, Karga might actually have some trouble with Imperial warlords, sure, and he’d certainly see Mando as the source for many of his current woes, given he was the one to set Mando into the client’s path in the first place. Mando was sure that wouldn’t endear Karga to either the Imps or the guild members on Navarro.

And yet, to get the guild off his trail would make his current situation markedly better, as would erasing the client from the list of people currently out for Mando’s helmet.

So the real question was, what could he do to minimize the risk to himself and, more importantly, the kid? Who did he have left to rely upon?

* * *

Don’t Leave Fate Up To Chance

“Do you gamble, Mando?” Koresh asked, his eye turning briefly in Mando’s direction from the ring in front of them.

“Not when it can be avoided.” Mando had far better uses for his time and credits than gambling hells and fighting rings.

And here he was, on the off chance Koresh had any actually useful intel for him. Mando sighed.

He’d been doing a lot of that, lately.

* * *

Expand Your Definition

“I don’t gamble,” Mando said, as Cara pushed a small pile of credits across the bar, accepting both the betting chip and the mug of whatever watered-down concoction was on offer before turning and leaning against the bar. She shrugged and raised the mug to her lips, sneering impressively at the taste.

They both angled themselves to watch the screen above where their quarry was feigning interest in the results of the most recent fathier race on the track below.

“Why do you think she might have information we want? She looks more like a bored socialite than a dealer in black market artifacts.”

“Maybe that’s why she’s rumored to be good at it. Being underestimated can be a valuable tool.”

“Hmm,” was Cara’s only response. “Showing yourself here seems like an unnecessary risk.”

“It’s worth a shot, given I don’t exactly have an abundance of other leads right now.”

Later, as they were both pinned down in the bowels of the building and dodging blaster bolts from said bored socialite and her cronies, Cara spared enough attention to comment, “I thought you said you didn’t gamble, Mando. I think you need to expand your definition of the word.”

“Shut up and shoot.”


End file.
